Malakai Watene-Zelezniak
Personal information
Born (1991-08-28) 28 August 1991
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight94 kg (14 st 11 lb)
Rugby league
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017 Penrith Panthers 1 0 0 0 0
2017–18 Wests Tigers 25 9 0 0 36
2019–20 Penrith Panthers 5 1 0 0 4
Total 31 10 0 0 40
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019 Tonga 9s 3 1 0 0 4
2023 Poland 1 1 0 0 4
Rugby union
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014 NSW Country Eagles 4 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Malakai Watene-Zelezniak (born 27 August 1991) is a former rugby league footballer who played on the wing. He played for the Penrith Panthers in two separate spells, and the Wests Tigers in the NRL.

Watene-Zelezniak briefly played rugby union for the New South Wales Country Eagles in the National Rugby Championship.

Background

Watene-Zelezniak was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Māori, Tongan and Polish descent. At 2 years old he moved to Hamilton, New Zealand, and returned to Sydney at 9 years old.

He played his junior rugby league for the St Clair Comets. He attended St. Dominic’s College, Penrith.

Watene-Zelezniak is the great-grandson of former New Zealand rugby league captain and politician, Steve Watene.[2] Watene-Zelezniak is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] Malakai is the older brother of the New Zealand Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

Playing career

Early career

Watene-Zelezniak played for the Penrith Panthers in the NYC from 2009 to 2011.[3]

In 2014, he joined the New South Wales Country Eagles of the National Rugby Championship.[4] He played in four of their matches.[5][6][7][8]

Watene-Zelezniak returned to the Panthers during the 2015 season to play in their New South Wales Cup team.[9]

On 25 September 2015, Watene-Zelezniak was named in Tonga's preliminary train-on squad ahead of their 2017 World Cup qualifying match against the Cook Islands.[10]

He was selected to represent the New Zealand Māori in their match against the New Zealand Residents on 15 October 2016.[11]

2017

In February, Watene-Zelezniak was a member of the Panthers' Auckland Nines squad.[12] He made his NRL debut for the Panthers against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on 7 April. His selection came after Matt Moylan, Waqa Blake and Peta Hiku were dropped for disciplinary reasons.[13] He played on the wing outside his younger brother Dallin, who said. "I had a feeling at the start of the week he was going to make his debut because they asked me to play left centre. Mal was training well, so I went over to him and said, 'I think you’re playing this week'."[14]

On 29 April, it was announced that Watene-Zelezniak had been released from the Panthers to immediately join the Wests Tigers until the end of 2018.[15] He made his club debut for the Tigers on 12 May, also against the Rabbitohs.[16] Coach Ivan Cleary, who was head coach when Watene-Zelezniak played in the lower grades at the Panthers and brought him to Wests Tigers, said "When we signed him, I never thought he'd play so much. He's really improved. He's improved on some fundamental stuff and each game he's improved."[17]

2018

Watene-Zelezniak made 12 appearances for Wests Tigers and scored 3 tries as the club missed out on the finals by finishing 9th on the table. He then departed the club at the end of the season to re-join Penrith on a two-year deal.[18][19]

2019

Watene-Zelezniak only made four appearances for Penrith in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished a disappointing 10th on the table and missed out on the finals.[20]

2020

Watene-Zelezniak played only one game for Penrith in the 2020 NRL season. In October, he was released by the club.[21]

On 21 January 2021, Watene-Zelezniak announced his immediate retirement from rugby league due to acute kidney failure and associated complications.[22]

2023

On 23 Oct 2023 it was reported that he had made his debut for Poland 40-8 win over North Macedonia in Sydney[23]

Personal life

Malakai Watene-Zelezniak with his brother started a watch Company W Zelezniak.[24][25]

References

  1. ↑ "Malakai Watene-Zelezniak – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project.
  2. 1 2 Lane, Daniel (4 April 2014). "Penrith rookie Dallin Watene-Zelezniak shapes up to a family legend". Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ↑ NYC Database. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "NSW Country Eagles announce NRC Squad for 2014". The Roar. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Eagles 31 – 2 Rams. Fox Sports. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  6. ↑ Rays 21 – 33 Eagles. Fox Sports. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Eagles 16 – 37 Rising. Fox Sports. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Eagles 40 – 34 Spirit. Fox Sports. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Dallin finds his feet in new role". Western Weekender. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Tonga named preliminary train-on squad". NRL.com. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "Panthers picked for NZ Maori". penrithpanthers.com.au. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "Panthers picked for Nines". penrithpanthers.com.au. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  13. ↑ Newton, Alicia (5 April 2017). "Dream reunion for Watene-Zelezniak brothers". NRL.com. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Christian Nicolussi. "Dallin and Malakai Watene-Zelezniak to renew rivalry as Panthers tackle Tigers". Daily Telegraph.
  15. ↑ "Wests Tigers sign Malakai Watene-Zelezniak". weststigers.com.au. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Updated team lists: Wests Tigers v Rabbitohs". NRL.com. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  17. ↑ Michael Chammas. "Watene-Zelezniak brothers ready for NRL battle as Penrith Panthers face Tigers". Canberra Times.
  18. ↑ "Wests Tigers 2018 season review". www.nrl.com. 30 October 2018.
  19. ↑ "Malakai Watene-Zelezniak to reunite with brother Dallin at Panthers". www.foxsports.com.au. 5 July 2018.
  20. ↑ "Panthers: 2019 season by the numbers". www.nrl.com. 10 November 2019.
  21. ↑ "Penrith confirm departure of six players". www.foxsports.com.au. 30 October 2020.
  22. ↑ @malakaiwatenezelezniak (21 January 2021). "Malakai Watene-Zelezniak retirement announcement". Retrieved 21 January 2021 – via Instagram.
  23. ↑ "Former NRL ace scores on Poland debut in win over international debutants North Macedonia". Love Rugby League. 23 October 2023.
  24. ↑ "Home". wzelezniak.com.au.
  25. ↑ https://www.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/nrl/nrl-premiership/the-usinspired-business-venture-setting-up-nrls-watenezelezniak-brothers-for-life-after-footy/news-story/82fbfe0514223154853f57e5b0a5514e
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